Why Invest in a Professional Medical Billing Service?

Are you considering eliminating your in-house medical billing? Not sure what the benefits may be? If you should choose to outsource your medical billing, you will no longer have the headaches associated with in-house billing. Let’s take a look at what your practice stands to gain by investing in a professional medical billing service.

Allocating Staff Where They’re Best Neededoutsource medical billing

It will no longer be necessary to ensure that your staff is “up to date” on all of the medical billing standards, thus allowing you to save money by eliminating the need to send your employees to countless seminars. Additionally, you will save a significant amount of money when you’re no longer forced to purchase costly computer equipment and/or software updates – you will even save money on office expenses, such as phone charges, postage fees and copy paper.

Quite possibly one of the most beneficial factors involved in the decision to eliminate your in-house medical billing is the increased time and effort your staff will be able to put toward patient care. You may even cut expenses on employee wages and benefits, and at the same time enjoy the advantages gained from additional space within your office that will very likely become available.

Drastically Optimize Accounts Receivables

It has been reported that medical practices hiring competent and professional outside medical billing companies have gained the assurance that their receivables are getting the attention they deserve. Your A/R will receive full-time, professional attention, and absolutely no delay or interruption in cash flow due to vacation time and absenteeism.

Submission of electronic claims is also beneficial, since payments are typically received as soon as 10 days after submission. This has resulted in many practices witnessing a significant increase in their turnaround time and receivables. For smaller health centers and local FQHCs, these solutions can drastically help to maximize revenue.

Leverage Full-Service Practice Management

billing serviceAlso, most professional and competent medical billing companies encourage their clients to decide just how much or how little they do for you. You may request that the company with which you contract simply submit your claims, submit claims and work rejections, or offer you full practice management.

When it comes to comprehensive medical billing services, full practice management entails claim submission, as well as submission of all secondary and tertiary claims, posting of all payments, work rejections, necessary tasks to clear up old A/R reports, and weekly/monthly reports. Additionally, under a full practice management contract, medical billing companies send patient statements and handle patient billing calls.

Take Advantage of Value-Added Services

Many medical billing companies also offer such services as credentialing with insurance companies, thus saving their clients hours of paperwork processing. The company you decide to hire may also provide you the valuable service of performing the evaluation of reimbursement rates and advise you of the highest appropriate fee schedule, as well as supply your office with a customized super-bill (i.e., router, flow sheet).

In summary, hiring a professional medical billing service for your practice is extremely beneficial, and certainly an option you should consider. Prior to doing so, however, it’s important to talk with at least three reputable medical billing companies to ensure that the service with which you contract is reliable, competent and professional so that your practice sees the best results possible. I wish you the best for your practice’s success.

3 Reputable FQHC Billing Companies Based in the U.S.

Federal Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) offer healthcare services to citizens of the United States. Due to the dynamic and varied nature of services offered, it is normally hard for these kinds of facilities to undertake their own medical billing. More often than not, FQHCs and other such facilities like Community Health Centers hire reputable medical billing companies to offer billing services to them.

In order to continue providing quality health care services, it is important that FQHCs have efficient and effective medical billing systems that ensure patients complete medical bills in a timely manner. That can only happen with the intervention of reputable FQHC billing companies. Herein is a review of three leading FQHC billing companies based in the U.S.

1. Practice Managementreputable FQHC billing companies

Practice Management has a reputation for being one of the most trusted FQHC billing companies when it comes to decreasing payment turnaround time and revenue maximization. Although they provide a wide range of services, Practice Management has a high level of experience and specialty in FQHC billing. Some of the FQHC billing services provided by Practice Management include but are not limited to the following:

  • Community Health Center (CHC) billing and coding
  • FQHC billing services
  • Medicaid, Medicare and Commercial insurance for behavioral health, medical and dental claims.
  • EMR Practice Management Systems
  • Family practices
  • Pediatrics
  • Cardiology

Practice Management has a well put together team of individuals with enviable mastery of billing software, who are always ready for consultation on various topics such as:

  • FQHC Billing & Coding
  • Financial policies and procedures
  • Front office procedures

2. Visualutions

Visualutions is a top 3 FQHC billing company based in the United States. Visualutions is not only focused on providing the usual FQHC billing services but also ensures health centers significantly reduce overhead costs while maximizing on revenue.

It is noteworthy that this company ensures that their staffs are trained both practically and theoretically to ensure that they deliver on their mandate. Based on the best practice of FQHC billing, some of the services offered by the company include:

  • Financial analytics
  • Revenue cycle management
  • Community healthcare solutions
  • Cloud and IT services

3. Synergy Billing

Synergy Billing has over the years helped FQHCs to collect revenue and overcome financial huddles. Synergy recognizes the complex nature of FQHC billing and provides effective solutions to ensure every penny is not only collected, but also put into good use. Some of the programs that Synergy billing extends to FQHC include:

  • Retirement plans
  • Incentive programs
  • Employee Council
  • Synergy leadership academy.

To ensure effective service delivery, Synergy billing uses strategies such as:

  • Staff training: which is geared towards cultivating an understanding among the staff on how FQHC billing works
  • Accounting receivables recoveries are undertaken to establish error that may give rise to A/R balances
  • Informational webinars ensure that management and staff conform to the favorable billing practices to increase collection of revenue

For the most part, the top FQHC billing companies do a lot to help community based health centers keep afloat in the already turbulent waters of providing healthcare and medical treatment to an underserved population. It is therefore important to give due credit to these top three organizations for the effort they put forth to ensure citizens of the United States have access to quality medical and healthcare services.

Top 3 Specialized Cardiology Medical Billers in Review

Cardiology Billing ServicesMany medical billing companies have been established, but it’s only a few that can effectively optimize billing systems for faster payments and maximized revenue streams. The most established medical billing companies specialize in different areas such as orthopedic billing, OB/GYN billing, pediatric billing, urology billing and cardiology billing.

When it comes to specialized cardiology billing services, you can trust the following 3 leading medical billers: Practice Management, BillingParadise, and 5 Star Billing Services Inc.

1. Practice Management

Established in 1995, Practice Management aims to offer top quality physician billing services. Since then, the company has been helping physicians run their business more efficiently and effectively. It uses a free-based system to calculate billing service fees. This system is based on three factors: practice’s volume, medical specialty and payer mix.

Practice Management provides nationwide medical billing services with expertise in cardiology medical billing services. There is no other company with a wide of range of medical billing services like Practice Management. It offers medical billing in the following areas: allergy, cardiology, dermatology, electrophysiology, ENT, family practice, FQHC, health center, gastroenterology, internal medicine, neurosurgery, OB/GYN, orthopedic, pain management, pediatric, podiatry, sleep sturdy, surgery, urology and vascular surgery. The company is also concerned with billing management, credentialing, electronic health records and medical billing consulting.

Following all federal, state and local laws, Practice Management offers custom-tailored cardiology billing services made to reduce overhead costs and increase reimbursement growth, cash flow and revenue. It’s cardiology billing program touches on: coding, credentialing, procedures (angiography, angioplasty, atherectomy, cardiac catheterization, cardiovascular monitoring, echocardiography, implantable & wearable cardiac device evaluations, nuclear studies and stent), cardiology billing security, follow-ups and consultation. The company’s cardiology medical billers combine advanced technology and efficient revenue cycle management to offer these services. To learn more, visit MaximizedRevenue.com.

2. BillingParadise

BillingParadise is a nationwide medical billing company that was started in 2000. It is one of the few companies offering the most cost-effective outsourcing solutions to physicians. It boasts qualified healthcare specialists, medical billers and professional coders who improve collection rates and increase physician reimbursement.

Billingparadise.com offers medical billing in the following areas: cardiology, family practice, anesthesiology, internal medicine, dermatology, OB/GYN, endocrinology, gastroenterology, urology, ophthalmology, rheumatology, neurology, nephrology, optometry, otolaryngology, pediatric, podiatry, physical therapy and surgery. Its billing program features important processes like: charge entry, claims submission, point of contact, account receivables, denials management, customized reports and document scanning & archiving.billing service

BillingParadise is well versed with insurance carrier policies, and this is one of the reasons it offers quality cardiology billing services. It handles charge postings and reviews, billing inquiry calls and patient billing functions. Using efficient AMR software and a reputable EHR and following the right cardiology billing process, the company ensures its clients (physicians) get paid for their services.

Whether physicians want customized billing services for their general clinical cardiology, interventional cardiology, echo-cardiology, nuclear cardiology, transplant cardiology surgery or heart failure, they can always get them from BillingParadise.

3. 5 Star Billing Services Inc.

With many years of experience in the business, 5 Star Billing Services Inc. offers professional medical billing and related services for medical practitioners. The company boasts an experienced medical team and an efficient appeals and submission system that increases cash flow, reduces denials and cut downs self-billing costs.

5 Star Billing Services Inc. specializes in the following medical billing areas: cardiology, chiropractic, dermatology, family practice, gastroenterology, internal medicine, medical billing, mental health, OB/GYN, occupational therapy, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pain management, pediatric, podiatry, physical therapy, rheumatology, sleep medicine, speech pathology, surgery and urology.

5 Star Billing Services Inc. believes in the best practices of cardiology billing and account reimbursement. Its billing program reduces expenses and increase revenue. The company submits all claims electronically to allow physicians access their patients data (transaction history, balances & more) remotely. It manages receivables through cardiology AR tracking, coding, payer relations, patient relations, collections, client reporting, fees analysis and managed-care contracts.

3 Reasons to Make Hometown Community Banks Your Local Bank In Peoria, IL

hometown community banks of peoria ilNowadays, consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to banking. Individuals can choose from national bank franchises, hometown credit unions, and even banks which only exist through the world wide web. With so many choices, it can often be difficult to determine which bank is right for your needs.

Thankfully, if you live in Peoria, IL, this decision will be made much easier once you take the time to review the top 3 reasons why you should make Hometown Community Banks your local bank in Peoria, IL.

Rewards Credit Cards

rewards credit cardsWhen you pay cash for the things you buy, you will never be rewarded for your spending habits. Hometown Community Banks can help you to change this with the use of their rewards credit cards. The way these cards work is simple. The more money you spend throughout the year, the more you can expect to get back at the end of the year.

When using a rewards credit card, you will have the option of either receiving cash back or earning reward points. If you choose to receive cash back, you can expect your annual percentage of cashback to continue increasing the more money that you spend. If you choose to receive reward points, you can then use these points to purchase a variety of rewards, such as airline tickets, hotel rooms, or even a new television.

The best part of using these cards is that they not only reward you for the things you buy anyway, but they also offer a very competitive annual rate.

Pot O’ Gold Checking

The Pot O’ Gold checking accounts offered by Hometown Community Banks are a great way to grow your money. This is because these accounts offer a super-charged interest rate in return for meeting just one very simple requirement. If you are thinking that this requirement is a minimum balance, you would be wrong.

Unlike many accounts which offer high interest rates, there is never a minimum balance requirement associated with your Pot O’ Gold checking account. Instead, you are simply required to use your debit card at least 15 times a month in order to qualify for a higher interest rate and other benefits, such as having ATM fees refunded.

Personalized Lending

Many of life’s most expensive purchases will require access to additional funding. Hometown Community Banks strive to get you the funding you need through a variety of different personalized lending products. These loan products include: lending borrowing loan

Home mortgage loans: These loans are designed to help you buy the home of your dreams. If you are not quite ready to buy, you can prequalify for this type of loan in order to make the home buying process easier once you find a home. You may also be able to take advantage of a no money down option if you are planning to buy a home in a rural community.

Home Equity Loans: If you own your home, a home equity loan can be a great way to get the cash you need for a large home improvement project or to help you overcome a financial crisis. These loans work by letting you borrow against the equity you have built up in your home. The proceeds from these loans can be used to cover any cost you see fit.

Vehicle Loans: While many car dealerships will offer financing on-the-spot, this in-house financing will rarely be able to compete with the low annual rates that you can secure by getting your auto loan financing directly through your hometown bank.

Personal Loans: If you are in need of a little extra cash to accomplish a personal goal of yours, the flexible repayment options and low interest rates associated with a personal loan at Hometown Community Banks can help to make your dreams come true.

Student Loans: Financial aid programs rarely cover the true cost of attending college. The student loans offered by your hometown bank can help to cover the additional costs that you incur. Best of all, you will never need to worry about repaying this loan until after you have completed school.

A Final Thought

Whether you are looking for a way to keep your savings safe, grow your money, or gain access to the funds you need for all of life’s most expensive purchases, you can be sure that Hometown Community Banks offer the services that you need. To learn more about each of these services, simply stop into your local branch.

Proven Medical Billing Strategies for FQHCs & Community Health Centers

Replying to bills is often something that people would much rather ignore than get on with, especially in times where the economy isn’t at its peak. This can make life very hard for the likes of medical billing agencies that rely on people paying their bills. In fact, research has found that almost a third of the claims which are sent out to people remain unanswered!FQHC health center biller

As you might imagine this is definitely a challenging prospect for the likes of cardiologists, especially on top of a hectic work schedule. It forces them to improve their systems and effectiveness when it comes to getting the money that is owed. But just how can you go about this if you are a health center or FQHCs? Below we have outlined proven ways to ensure you are cultivating the best FQHC billing strategies that are most aligned with your health center’s goals and objectives.

Make The Most Of Technology

The development of computers and the Internet have made maintaining records a lot simpler than they used to be. What this means is that FQHC billing and keeping profiles up-to-date and in order is a lot more efficient and accurate.

What this means for FQHC and health center billing agencies is that they are able to have a better understanding of whether claims will be accepted or denied. Software has now been designed that updates itself automatically and allows billing professionals to know exactly what they can collect from clients.

Submit Multiple Claims patient billing claims

Research has found that 60% of first time payments are either ‘lost’, ignored or denied. With these lost claims largely never being followed up on, as you might imagine this accounts for a lot of loss and it is a missed-opportunity for medical billing companies.

So how do you combat this? Well one of the simplest ways to combat this is to send out follow-up messages and resubmit any claims that are denied. The result is that even if only a few of these claims are answered then you will boost your returns.

Establish Clear Patient Communications

Clarity is key when it comes to patient billing information. If you remove the excuses of patients that they weren’t aware of the terms of payment then there is really no excuse for them to pay. So how do you go about this?

One of the simplest health center billing and FQHC medical billing solutions is to make sure the information is readily available for everyone to see and in terms of being in a medical practice this is usually by placing it in the waiting areas and at the reception. This information should provide the patients with a clear picture of any payments they may be required to make, the necessary insurance requirements they must have and how to best pay the bills.

Consistently Update Information

A lot of opportunity is lost from the lack of updated information! To ensure your billing process is successful it is integral that it keeps all information up to date.

By doing this you will be ensuring that everything is running correctly and smoothly from your end and therefore the fault is at the other end. It might sound obvious but an up-to-date listing will make it much easier to claim all the bills that are owed.